NewSong • Where Great Artists Are Discovered

2004 RESULTS

PRESS RELEASE (2004): GRAND PRIZE WINNERS of 2004 MOUNTAIN STAGE NEWSONG CONTEST ANNOUNCED

Charles Town, WV – Chelsea Richardson won the Grand Prize in the 2004 Mountain Stage NewSong Performing Songwriter Contest for their tune "Cartoonland," which also won Best Song in the contest. "I am speechless. We never expected to win and it is a great honor. I am proud of Chelsea - we had no idea where our collaborations would go," said Bradburn.

Winners of the contest, sponsored by Performing Songwriter magazine, were announced Saturday, Aug. 21, on the main stage of the NewSong Festival, held on the grounds of the historic Claymont Court estate, near Charles Town, West Virginia, from Aug. 20 to 22. More than 800 performing songwriters entered the contest from around the country and from several foreign countries.

chelsea richardson, grand prize and best song winner, performing on Mountain Stage

vikki genfan, 2nd place

carmella scott, 3rd place

amy fairchild, 4th place

antje duvekot, 5th place

Vikki Genfan of Fairview, N.J., took 2nd place with "Eleanor." Carmella Scott of Los Angeles, placed 3rd with "Ole Country Girl." Amy Fairchild of Wakefield, MA., took 4th with "Mr. Heart." And Antje Duvekot of Brooklyn, NY, came in 5th with "Pearls."

"There was an enormous pool of talent in our contest this year," said NewSong Contest Director Gar Ragland. "The Mountain Stage NewSong Contest has proven highly effective in identifying talented, emerging artists from an array of genres, and we look forward to working with many of them to advance their careers."

The finals of this year's contest were judged by such notables as Billy Zero, host of XM Satellite Radio's "Unsigned" program; Larry Groce, host of the Mountain Stage program; Chris Sampson and Chris Tetzeli of ATO Records; producer Ben Wisch; ASCAP Membership Representative Dan Keen; and NewSong headline acts Susan Werner and Darrell Scott.

Keen described "Cartoonland" as emotionally stunning. "The song starts with a little girl watching TV. In the 2nd verse, her parents are fighting in the next room and the song takes a serious and gripping turn. They captured the detachment a child would have to embrace to survive parents violently fighting. It was very chilling to me."

Darrell Scott, a multiple-Grammy nominated songwriter for performers who range from the Dixie Chicks to Keb' Mo, said the presentation added to its power. "The song was well written from the point of view of a child. By having a young girl perform the song was killer juxtaposition. The song would not be the same sung by an adult. The song became more believable."

Bradburn is a music educator in Marion, N.C., and Richardson is an 8th grade student. Richardson is a long-time guitar and piano student of Bradburn, and helps him with school programs on storytelling and song creation. They met when she was in 4th grade during a school program on songwriting.They entered the winning tune in the NewSong Contest just to see what would happen, said Bradburn. "If we won, we could be on Mountain Stage-- as if that could actually happen, ha-ha."

It did happen. They won $500 and an appearance on a festival-ending performance of "Mountain Stage." They performed "Cartoonland" at the show on August 22 at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, sharing the stage with headline acts Junior Brown, the Darol Anger Fiddle Ensemble, and performing songwriters Lisa Loeb, Ellis Paul and Devon Sproule.

Now in its 21st year, "Mountain Stage" is heard on more than 200 radio and TV stations worldwide and soon will be broadcast on XM Satellite Radio. The Mountain Stage NewSong show will be broadcast on radio in the first or second week of October.